Uveitis and the Arthritis Connection

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Uveitis and the Arthritis Connection

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A study to determine if inflammatory rheumatic diseases and comparable

conditions can cause uveitis was conducted. According to the study, The

Finnish Register of Visual Impairment, in 1996, included 296 uveitis

patients in whom uveitis was the main cause of visual impairment but due

to incomplete data, only 174 uveitis patients were studied.

Uveitis is an inflammation of the blood vessels that feed the eye and

the iris of the eye, and can lead to severely diminished sight and even

blindness. Symptoms may include eye pain, redness, light sensitivity,

blurred vision and floaters.

Inflammatory rheumatic disease or a comparable condition was found in

22% of patients. Results are as follows: juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

in 14, spondyloarthropathy (ankylosing spondylitis or reactive

arthritis) in 10 (6%), sarcoidosis in 5 (3%), seronegative rheumatoid

arthritis in 4 (2%); Behçet`s disease was diagnosed in 2 (1%), 1 patient

had polymyositis, 1 polyarteritis nodosa, and 1 juvenile systemic lupus

erythematosus. In addition to the above, 10 (6%) patients had chronic

back pain and 5 (3%) patients various noninflammatory joint problems.

Diverse other ophthalmologic or systemic disease was detected in 38

(22%) cases. Trauma or surgery caused uveitis in 9 (5%) patients. For

74/174 (43%) uveitis patients, no specific associating condition could

be shown. Legal blindness was documented in 65/174 (37%) patients,

including 8 totally blind persons.”

Source: Journal of Rheumatology, #28, 2001